The Prime Minister was embroiled in a spin row after the chief of the
statistics authority attacked ministers for releasing "selective"
knife crime figures against their advice.

Both Number 10 and the Home Office were severely criticised by the head of the UK Statistics Authority for pressurising officials compiling the figures.

In a damning letter, Sir Michael Scholar, the head of the UK Statistics Authority, said Thursday's release of stabbing data by Downing Street and the Home Office was "premature, irregular and selective".

He told Jeremy Heywood, the Permanent Secretary at Number 10, that the figures on hospital admissions for stabbing injuries had not been properly checked.

He wrote: "These statistics were not due for publication for some time, and had not therefore been through the regular process of checking and quality assurance. The statisticians who produced them, together with the National Statistician, tried unsuccessfully to prevent their premature, irregular and selective release.

"I hope you will agree that the publication of prematurely released and unchecked statistics is corrosive of public trust in official statistics, and incompatible with the high standards which we are all seeking to establish."

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The release of the figures, which showed that knife crime had fallen in 10 hotspots targeted by police in a Government crackdown, was condemned as being "corrosive of public trust."

It is a major embarrassment for Mr Brown who announced when he first became Prime Minister that he would ensure more honesty in official figures after years of accusations that Labour used suspect data to spin better results in areas like health and crime.

The rebuke was seized on by opposition parties who said it was an example of Labour reverting to spin to try and hide the truth.

The Conservatives were outraged that Mr Brown had posed alongside the families of knife crime victims on Thursday to publicise the falls in knife crime in certain areas.

Mr Brown and Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, used the figures to launch a new "No To Knives" coalition of celebrities including Brooke Kinsella, whose brother Ben was stabbed to death earlier this year. Richard Taylor, the father of 10-year-old Damilola who was also killed by a knife, was also present.

The figures seemed to show a 17 per cent fall in serious injuries and deaths in knife-crime hotspots. There were also claims that hospital admissions for knife injuries had dropped by 27 per cent in areas targeted by the authorities.

Michael Fallon, the former chairman of the Commons statistics panel, said: "It appears that Gordon Brown has been caught red-handed by his own watchdog. Knife crime is too important an area for political spinning."

Dominic Grieve, the Shadow Home Secretary added: "If Government ministers have sanctioned the selective and manipulative spinning of these statistics, it is reckless and irresponsible. Labour should immediately publish the full figures so that we can see the truth."

Sir Michael was said to be "furious" over the breach of the rules. His son, Tom, is a senior Treasury civil servant and one of Mr Brown's most trusted civil servants.

It is the second time in recent months that the Home Office has been criticised over its use of statistics. In August, Professor David Hand, head of the Royal Statistical Society, criticised "serious" bad practices during the release of immigration figures in August.

Chris Huhne, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, said: "Gordon Brown promised to end armchair government and the culture of spin when he entered Number 10, but this sorry affair shows both are still alive and well."

"Yet again this Government has been caught peddling dodgy statistics. If ministers want the British people to trust anything they say, statistics must be made completely independent of government."